Whether canister or upright, vacuum cleaners in all of their designs and permutations have become increasingly popular over the years. In general, vacuum cleaners incorporate a suction fan motor, attendant dirt cup or filter bag and a nozzle assembly fluidly and mechanically connected thereto that sucks up dirt and dust by operator movement across a dirt-laden floor. Specifically, an agitator within the nozzle assembly rotates to beat the nap of a carpet and dislodge dirt and dust during a time when an operator manipulates the cleaner back and forth. Problematically, when operators clean bare-floors or BERBER style carpets, for example, agitators rotating at full speed can sometimes cause damage. Thus, some attempts in the prior art have reduced the speed of the suction fan motor to cause a corresponding reduction in the speed of the agitator. With this, however, comes a corresponding loss in suction and loss of cleaning ability.
Accordingly, the floor care arts have need of an agitator that can rotate without damaging certain floor or carpet types while still providing effective cleaning.